Opening: The Classified Senate meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m. on September 11, 2013.
Present: Shevonna Blackshire, Shelly Charron, Julie Elliott, Breanne Holland, Christina Ocrant, Jennifer
Panag, Jennifer Patrick, Eva Rhodes, April Robinson, Brandy Shiners, Anne Wong
I.
Welcome/Greetings
1.
Breanne welcomed the attendees and introductions were made by the Senate and new
Area Reps.
2.
Breanne said that, going forward, she will try to get the meeting agenda out a week in advance.
3.
Breanne explained to the new Area Reps how the meetings will be conducted.
II.
Reports
1.
Classified Senate President a.
Breanne announced that the management meetings she usually attends have not started yet, so there was nothing to report. b.
Interviews for the Vice President of Administration will be starting soon. Two members of the Classified staff are on the interview panel. Breanne reported that the VPA used to have responsibility over certificated instructors, but that person’s responsibility will shift to classified personnel. This management position will act as an advocate for Classified staff. Breanne asked the Area
Reps to solicit from their areas those topics that they want the VPA to address.
This information will be funneled to the Classified staff on the hiring committee.
Christina asked to have the VPA job description sent out to the Area Reps.
2.
Classified Area Representatives a.
Breanne mentioned how there was a lack of reporting last year and emphasized that, going forward, the reports don’t have to be academic in nature or jobrelated, but should include information and news that would be of interest to
Classified staff. b.
Christina Ocrant announced that there is a new interim Dean of the Learning
Resources group—Marjorie Duffy. She may be in the position for up to a year.
Christina said that she will send out an email asking for input from the areas she represents that can be passed on to the Senate. Christina also said that the IT techs have been splitting their time between CRC and the Elk Grove Center. c.
Anne Wong announced that Nick Shewmaker is leaving. An Instructional
Assistant II will be hired and sit at the desk that used to belong to Nancy
Edmonson. d.
Jennifer Panag reported that there is a new interim Dean, Lance Parks. Jennifer said that her department has been trying to fill a lot of instructor slots with
Adjuncts. She also announced that Sue Palm is retiring at the end of this semester, but may come back as an Adjunct instructor. Janice Caston will also be back as an Adjunct instructor. Jennifer also reported that Eddie Fagin is the
Business department chair. Two new faculty members have been hired,
Katherine Morgan Nance (or “Katie”) in Accounting and Amy Leung in

Classified Senate Meeting Minutes (9/11/13)
Economics. Becky Halligan is located at the Elk Grove Center in the morning and comes back to CRC in the afternoon to fulfill her ECE Supervisory duties. e.
Julie Elliot said that there is a new, part-time Graphic Designer named Cory. The full-time Graphic Design position went over to Kristie West’s area. Duplicating has been really busy with the Elk Grove Center opening and ended up having to answer a lot of phone calls for them. She also mentioned the board meeting tonight. f.
Jennifer Patrick reported that three Classified staff completed their degrees, including herself. She’s been spending a lot of time at the Elk Grove Center.
Jennifer also mentioned that Counselors and DSPS are out there as well. g.
Shelly Charron announced that a text messaging feature has been added to the
SARS program for Financial Aid and Counseling drop-ins. If a student is 15 th in line for Financial Aid and 5 th in line for Counseling, they will receive a text message instructing them to head back to those areas. Shelly said the quirks are being worked out. SARS Call is being phased out. Students will get text messages two hours before their appointment and confirmation and reminder emails/texts the day before. Students have the option to opt out of the program. The software allows for sending mass emails and texts and is more user-friendly. Shelly also announced that the Lending Library is now closed.
3.
Shared Governance Committee Reports a.
Breanne reported that there are 25-30 people who’ve signed up to be on the various governance committees. Of those numbers, half of the staff are new to
Shared Governance committees, which is very nice. b.
Julie said that she is willing to move from the Sustainability committee to one of the others that doesn’t have enough Classified representation. c.
Most Shared Governance committees haven’t started yet. d.
Breanne emphasized that Classified committee members should expect to report on the top three items discussed at meetings. Shelly asked if she should just email her report to the Senate since she is not an area rep anymore.
Breanne asked Shelly to send the reports directly to her for now. e.
Breanne reported that she is working on setting up an online discussion board with Christina Ocrant. The idea is to have a series of topics (e.g., agendas, minutes, etc.) for the online site. It won’t be anonymous, but Breanne hopes that will not deter people from participating. Hopefully, this will be an answer for those staff members who can’t attend many meetings because they are tied to their desks. Now, there will be a forum where they can find out what is going on with the Classified Senate and activities and offer their opinions and viewpoints.
III.
2013 Plans
1.
Classified Professional Development Day a.
The Classified Professional Development Day is scheduled for October 18 th in the Community room in the Winn Center. b.
The theme will be Teamwork and Collaboration to gain appreciation for what we all do. There are still details to be worked out. c.
Shevonna said that she hopes that Debbie Travis will be able to speak. d.
Breanne asked for volunteers for the committee. e.
Shelly asked about the district-wide Professional Development Day and Breanne explained that event is scheduled to be held in 2014. The original idea and date
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Classified Senate Meeting Minutes (9/11/13) was rejected by the other Senate presidents, but it is still something that we all would like to do.
2.
Department Recognition a.
Breanne explained the Department Recognition project to the new Area Reps and said that the Senate would like to start the recognitions this month. b.
We’ve received partial funding for this activity. The part of our proposal that was not funded with PD money has to do with the treats that we want to provide to the departments. The food is considered morale boosting and doesn’t fall under the purview of professional development. c.
The professional development component consists of distributing the survey, finding out details about the department and staff and taking pictures for a newsletter that will be distributed either monthly or bi-monthly. Currently, there is no one assigned to handle the newsletter. d.
Breanne reported that we have approval from Debbie Travis to use hospitality funds for the treats. e.
The Senate is looking for assistance with the project. We are asking for a 30minute commitment, once or twice a month to decorate, take pictures, etc.
3.
Senate Goals (“10 + 1”) a.
Breanne explained that the Academic Senate, under Title V, is mandated to have a set number of goals (“10 + 1”). The Classified staff doesn’t have a requirement to set goals, but it is important to do so. We want to develop at least three goals or issues that we would advocate for, as long as they don’t cross over into union territory. Breanne distributed the Academic Senate agenda and suggested that we review the Academic Senate mandate listed on it. Breanne mentioned that we do have support from the Academic Senate, who offered their assistance when we decide on our goals.
4.
Professional Development Resolution a.
One of the recommendations to increase student success in the Student Success bill has to do with staff professional development. The number of professional development days mandated across the state was five days. Because this recommendation was left out by the Chancellor’s office, SCC wrote a resolution to include it back in. The Board of Governors heard the resolution to put the mandate back in the other night. b.
Breanne mentioned that, while the faculty supports Classified staff having required PD days, they don’t want to have a mandate for themselves. c.
Breanne spoke with Debbie Travis about a CRC resolution to request one to five professional development days, which needs to be sent to the Board of
Governors by the end of October. d.
Breanne asked the Area Reps to communicate this issue to their departments and she will ask Debbie to compose a letter of support for the resolution.
5.
Fundraising a.
Breanne explained that the fundraising event will be a way to build funds for the
Classified Senate for morale boosting activities. b.
Breanne spoke with Carol Mercer from the Patrons Club about postponing the fundraising event to November. She explained that the Patrons will provide a scholarship from part of the proceeds. c.
Leanne will send out an email to all CRC to ask that people clean out their closets and bring their donations to the school.
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Classified Senate Meeting Minutes (9/11/13) d.
Breanne will speak with the Goodwill located across the street. e.
Julie suggested having Graphic Design work on a poster for the event. She will also ask her supervisor about more storage space and pick up a schedule from
Tony Cartright. f.
April mentioned that we should speak with Winnie LaNier about having the food trucks come out during the clothing exchange. g.
Shelly said that the Student Support Center has clothes racks and tags that can be used. She will also talk to Salena Mamuyac about looking at some things that were donated a while ago, but which might still be good to have out. h.
Breanne suggested having a raffle drawing in the spring in which we might be able to give away a laptop if we can get sponsorship.
6.
Constitution and Bylaws a.
The term limits in the Senate Constitution and Bylaws were updated last year.
More changes and revisions are likely to be made.
7.
Mission a.
Breanne distributed the poster that was created and submitted to 4CS. She stated that the mission statement needs to be updated and asked everyone in attendance to review it and provide suggested changes.
Meeting adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
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